Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ") 
Dec.  1, 1874.  J 
Process  of  Percolation. 
557 
There  are  many  of  the  officinal  fluid  extracts,  however,  in  which 
glycerin  has  been  very  judiciously  employed,  not  only  in  view  of  its 
solvent  action,  as  a  part  of  the  menstruum,  but  also  in  view  of  its 
presence  rendering  the  finished  preparations  more  stable  and  less 
prone  to  change  or  deposit  by  keeping. 
Much  has  been  said  and  written  within  the  last  decade  upon  the 
subject  of  percolation  and  the  manufacture  of  fluid  extracts,  and 
many  suggestions  and  new  plans  have  been  proposed,  but  there  has 
been  none  as  yet  offered  that  is  worthy  to  supersede  the  late  officinal 
process.  It,  of  course,  has  its  defects,  and  is  still  susceptible  of  much 
improvement,  but  with  all  its  faults  !  decidedly  prefer  it  to  any  of 
the  new  plans  yet  offered. 
Among  these  latter  there  is  one  especially  deserving  of  notice.  I 
refer  to  that  one  proposed  by  Dr.  Squibb,  which  is  known  by  the  title 
of  "  Repercolation."  This  plan,  like  the  present  officinal  process,  has 
for  its  object  and  chief  merit  the  economy  of  menstruum.  Although 
it  may  be  a  very  elaborate,  and,  in  scientific  and  careful  hands,  per- 
haps, a  very  thorough  process,  yet  it  is,  unfortunately,  marred  by  the 
very  objectionable  feature  of  being  troublesome,  very  complicated, 
and  requiring  for  its  performance  an  amount  of  experience  and  skill 
not  possessed  by  ordinary  pharmacists,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  there 
are  but  few  who  would  ever  adopt  it  in  the  ordinary  operations  of  a 
retail  store.  It  might,  perhaps,  be  advantageously  employed,  as  a 
means  of  economy  in  the  use  of  menstruum,  in  the  extensive  opera- 
tions of  large  manufacturing  establishments  like  that  of  Dr.  Squibb, 
with  one  of  his  superior  skill  to  supervise  its  management ;  but,  like 
the  officinal  process,  for  all  that  could  be  saved  by  it  in  the  small 
operations  of  the  retail  pharmacist,  it  would  not  pay  for  the  risk  of 
failure  and  the  extra  trouble,  care  and  attention  necessary  to  insure 
successful  and  satisfactory  results. 
No  new  process  which  contemplates  so  radical  a  change  in  any  im- 
portant operation  of  pharmacy  as  that  of  percolation  should  ever  be 
adopted  by  the  Revisory  Committee  of  our  Pharmacopoeia  until  its 
merits  have  been  thoroughly  tested  and  its  claims  well  established. 
The  Committee,  in  the  preface  to  their  work,  say,  "  it  is  no  part 
of  its  mission  to  lead  in  the  path  of  discovery.  It  should  gather  up 
and  hoard  for  use  what  has  been  determined  to  be  positive  improve- 
ment, without  pandering  to  fashion  or  to  doubtful  novelties  in  phar- 
maceutical science."    But  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  think  they  departed 
